In Theaters/On VOD: THE ASSIGNMENT (2017)

THE ASSIGNMENT
(France - 2017)

Directed by Walter Hill. Written by Walter Hill and Denis Hamill. Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia, Caitlin Gerard, Ken Kirzinger, Darryl Quon, Caroline Chan, Brent Langdon, Adrian Hough, Terry Chen, Paul McGillion. (R, 94 mins)

At 77 years of age and in his sixth decade in the movie industry, the great Walter Hill is far beyond the point of needing to prove himself to anyone. He works very infrequently these days--2013's underrated BULLET TO THE HEAD was his first big-screen gig in over a decade, though he did direct the acclaimed 2006 AMC miniseries BROKEN TRAIL. But in his prime, Hill was one of the giants. His incredible mid '70s to early '80s run that included classics like 1975's HARD TIMES, 1978's THE DRIVER, 1979's THE WARRIORS, 1980's THE LONG RIDERS, 1981's SOUTHERN COMFORT, and 1982's 48 HRS remains one of the best streaks a director could ever have. Even later, slightly lesser films that don't quite scale the heights of Hill in his heyday--1984's STREETS OF FIRE, 1987's EXTREME PREJUDICE, 1988's RED HEAT, 1989's JOHNNY HANDSOME, 1992's TRESPASS--still have those distinctly cynical. macho, tough guy Hill elements. Hill never gets mentioned in the same breath as the likes of auteurs that flourished in the '70s, like Scorsese, Coppola, or De Palma, but in his own way, he's every bit as significant to that era of Hollywood moviemaking. And that's just one reason why it's hard to even write about THE ASSIGNMENT, Hill's latest and arguably worst film. He took his name off of 2000's big-budget sci-fi bomb SUPERNOVA, with credit going to the non-existent "Thomas Lee" (a disgruntled Hill walked off the movie when filming wrapped, while Jack Sholder handled reshoots and, of all people, Francis Ford Coppola was pressed into service to edit the mess into something releasable), and while SUPERNOVA was indeed terrible, THE ASSIGNMENT might be worse.

Originally titled TOMBOY: A REVENGER'S TALE and shown at last year's Toronto Film Festival as (RE)ASSIGNMENT, THE ASSIGNMENT made some waves for its potentially offensive handling of transgender issues and its depiction of gender confirmation as punishment. It opens with a framing story in a Mendocino psych ward where disgraced quack surgeon Dr. Rachel Jane (Sigourney Weaver) is kept in a strait-jacket while she's interviewed by psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Galen (Tony Shalhoub). Galen's job is to determine if Jane is competent to stand trial after she's the sole survivor of a brutal massacre in the basement of her mansion, where she's set up an experimental surgery ward where she's been working since losing her medical license two years earlier. Dr. Jane tells Dr. Galen of the events that led to her being apprehended, and it involves a ruthless hit man named Frank Kitchen. Three years earlier, Kitchen was hired to whack Jane's sleazy, drug-addled strip club manager brother Sebastian (Adrian Hough) before being double-crossed by crime boss Honest John (Anthony LaPaglia), who delivered him to Dr. Jane. Jane proceeded to perform gender reassignment surgery on Frank, both as revenge for Sebastian's murder and to "liberate you from the macho prison you've been living in." Frank (Michelle Rodriguez plays Frank pre-and-post-op) wakes up in a locked room in a shitbag hotel OLDBOY-style, with a taunting tape recording of Jane explaining what she did. Frank gets out of the hotel and reconnects with Johnnie (Caitlin Gerard), a nurse-by-day, stripper-by-night with whom he had a one-nighter shortly before being screwed over by the ironically-monikered Honest John. Frank devises a convoluted revenge plot to get back at everyone, from Honest John to various Russian and Asian mobsters and finally the psychotic Dr. Jane, before planning to run off with Johnnie, who falls for the new Frank much like she did the old.

There's no way to sugarcoat it: THE ASSIGNMENT is a mess. Barely propelled by uninspired and now-cliched '80s synth cues by none other than 76-year-old disco producing icon Giorgio Moroder, it's little more than series of framing devices, with Dr. Jane telling her story to Dr. Galen and then with an on-the-run Frank setting up a camera in a skeezy hotel room and filming herself telling her story, leading to two simultaneous series of flashbacks that end up working at cross purposes. Hill also pointlessly and inconsistently uses some comic book panels in some scene transitions--much like the changes he made for his little-loved director's cut of THE WARRIORS--and because he seems to like those comic book shout-outs so much, that's ultimately the most "Walter Hill" thing about THE ASSIGNMENT. BULLET TO THE HEAD wasn't top-shelf Hill but it at least felt like a vintage Walter Hill film, and had an inspired Sylvester Stallone-Jason Momoa axe fight to keep things interesting. Like John Carpenter with his forgettable 2011 comeback THE WARD and Dario Argento with his clueless 2012 take on DRACULA, Hill brings none of his signature style and personality to this cheap-looking B-movie that's so utterly generic that it could've been made by any journeyman DTV hack. Throw Keoni Waxman's, Steven C. Miller's, or Ernie Barbarash's name on this and the only difference would be your drastically lowered expectations. Working from a script co-written by Denis Hamill (Pete Hamill's younger brother and the screenwriter of such beloved classics as 1985's TURK 182! and 1987's CRITICAL CONDITION) that he's had sitting around since the late '70s and wasn't smart enough to put directly into the paper shredder when he dusted it off after 35 years, Hill doesn't even pepper the film with his customary smartass humor or even a visit to Torchy's. It's dour and dull, with asides and threads that serve no purpose (the comic book panels are annoying, I'm not really sure what the Asian and Russian mobsters had to do with anything, and much is made of Dr. Jane's Edgar Allan Poe obsession, but it never leads anywhere), and of course it ends up in a dark, gloomy abandoned warehouse that houses Dr. Jane's SAW-like dungeon of demented surgical procedures.

A story insane enough to fuse elements of film noir and body horror should be a wild ride and an instant cult classic, but THE ASSIGNMENT is drab, depressing, and borderline incoherent. Weaver tries to have some fun with her role, looking a lot like an uptight warden in a 1980s women-in-prison movie (of course, she's got some secret kinks involving a hulking nurse assistant played by Ken Kirzinger), but her long, bitch-on-wheels monologues are poorly-written and grow tiresome, and it's ultimately another example of the limited opportunities for aging actresses when this is what a 67-year-old, three-time Oscar-nominee has to settle for if she wants a lead. Weaver's AVATAR co-star Rodriguez seems trapped in a pair of unplayable roles, but tries to give it her all and seems legitimately committed to this lost cause, whether she's baring all after the surgery or walking around with a huge prosthetic dick before it. She looks like a bearded Sal Mineo in her scenes as a pre-op Frank, and post-op, she's just doing a more forced-than-usual version of her glowering, tough-talking Michelle Rodriguez act. Given how his older classics have set a standard for tough-guy ballbusting and he-man masculinity, THE ASSIGNMENT could've been a sly, transgender commentary on such attitudes and its depictions in the action and thriller genres, but once the central gimmick is established, Hill has nothing more to say about it, going for some early and cheap shock value (Rodriguez strutting around with a massive, dangling cock) before switching to autopilot and opting to make the kind of forgettable, Redbox-ready Lionsgate dump job you've seen a hundred times before, with 99 of them done better. As far as any controversy is concerned, the embarrassingly bad THE ASSIGNMENT didn't offend me as a supporter of the transgender community. It offended me as a longtime supporter of Walter Hill.

In Theaters: BULLET TO THE HEAD (2013)

BULLET TO THE HEAD
(US - 2013)

Directed by Walter Hill.  Written by Alessandro Camon.  Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Jason Momoa, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christian Slater, Jon Seda, Holt McCallany, Brian Van Holt, Weronika Rosati, Dane Rhodes. (R, 99 mins)

It's been eleven years since the words "A Walter Hill Film" appeared on the big screen in a new theatrical release, and the lean, mean, bone-cracking, head-splattering BULLET TO THE HEAD finds the man still in fine form.  Hill first gained notoriety as a screenwriter, scripting Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY (1972) among others before making his directing debut with the Depression-era bare-knuckle brawling classic HARD TIMES (1975).  Numerous box-office hits and enduring movies-for-guys favorites followed: THE DRIVER (1978), THE WARRIORS (1979), THE LONG RIDERS (1980), SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981), 48 HRS (1982), STREETS OF FIRE (1984), EXTREME PREJUDICE (1987), RED HEAT (1988), JOHNNY HANDSOME (1989), ANOTHER 48 HRS (1990), TRESPASS (1992), GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (1993), WILD BILL (1995), LAST MAN STANDING (1997), and UNDISPUTED (2002).  He co-produced the ALIEN films and the HBO series DEADWOOD, and also directed the cable TV mini-series BROKEN TRAIL (2006).  He's been away for some time, and despite talk of behind-the-scenes friction with star Sylvester Stallone and a release date that was delayed multiple times (this was shot two years ago, and was completed before Stallone made THE EXPENDABLES 2), BULLET TO THE HEAD fits perfectly into the mold of what one expects from A Walter Hill Film, though it's hard telling if there's much mainstream multiplex interest in an action film starring a 66-year-old Stallone being directed by a 72-year-old Hill.  This match-up really isn't that much different from all of those late '80s Cannon action movies starring a pushing-70-year-old Charles Bronson being directed by 75-year-old J. Lee Thompson.  Stallone and Hill are older and obviously past their heyday, but they still have it.  But after the catastrophic tanking of Arnold Schwarzenegger's THE LAST STAND, does anyone under the age of 40 really care?  And will everyone over the age of 40 just wait for DVD/Blu-ray or VOD?  It's as much of a question of an aging star's bankability as it is the changing landscape of film distribution.

Like the recent string of geriatric actioners in the wake of THE EXPENDABLES, BULLET TO THE HEAD is an instance of formulaic convention working to the film's advantage.  When I say that it feels like it could've been made 25 years ago with few changes (cell phones, digital visual effects, Stallone's hair plugs), it's meant as a compliment.  From the mismatched heroes to the smartass one-liners and racial stereotyping played for laughs to the abducted loved one all the way to the showdown at an abandoned factory, BULLET TO THE HEAD leaves no cliche untouched.  It knows it's junk and has a good time with it.  Is it up there with Hill's best work?  No, but it's a nicely-done, highly entertaining nostalgia trip for fans of Hill, Stallone, and days gone by. And honestly, neither of these guys are interested in reinventing themselves at this point in their careers. 

Stallone is James Bonomo, aka Jimmy Bobo, a New Orleans-based hit man and career criminal.  Bobo and his associate Louis Blanchard (Jon Seda) are hired to whack Greely (Holt McCallany), a dirty ex-cop from D.C.  Two hours after the job, Blanchard is killed and Bobo attacked by hulking ex-mercenary Keegan (Jason Momoa of GAME OF THRONES), who's been hired to off Bobo and Blanchard by the same guy who commissioned them to kill Greely.  Bobo reluctantly forms an unholy alliance with visiting D.C. detective Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang of the FAST AND THE FURIOUS films), who's investigating Greely's murder against the wishes of the obviously corrupt local cops.  Bobo and Kwon (which almost has the same ring as TANGO & CASH) have to set aside their differences as criminal and cop to work together to bring down the bad guys...if they don't kill each other first!

The man responsible is land developer and Nigerian crime kingpin Robert Nkomo Morel (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who's trying to (what else?) knock down slum housing to build expensive properties.  Bobo and Kwon get a flash drive from Morel's sleazy lawyer Marcus Baptiste (Christian Slater, sixth-billed and not even granted the dignity of an "and Christian Slater" credit) that details all of the local cops, politicians, and assorted big shots in Morel's pocket.  And, in a turn of events that should surprise no one, Morel and Keegan have Lisa (Sarah Shahi), Bobo's tattoo-artist daughter.

To the abandoned factory for an axe fight!

Stallone and Kang make a good team, engaging in plenty of sarcastic and politically incorrect ballbusting (usually involving Bobo calling Kwon "Confucius" or "Oddjob" and telling him to "go read your tea leaves" or bitching about how Asians can't drive), and the seemingly gargantuan Momoa (who was effectively cast in the otherwise forgettable CONAN THE BARBARIAN remake in 2011) is a memorably imposing villain.  While BULLET TO THE HEAD is essentially a Stallone vehicle, it's also distinctly Hill's.  From the constant bantering (not quite on the level of Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy's back-and-forth in 48 HRS) to the bluesy, guitar-driven, Ry Cooder-esque score by Steve Mazzaro, to the intense action sequences, BULLET TO THE HEAD (based on the French graphic novel Du Plomb dans la Tete) frequently feels like a Walter Hill greatest hits package, and while it breaks no new ground, it's a nice thing to see in 2013.

Walter Hill directing Stallone